History of the Chechen War

by Ferdous Shabaz Adel
November 24, 1999

Since 1722, Chechnya is suffering from continuous Russian campaigns. Chechen towns were completely erased and destroyed. Until the year 1864, the War stayed continuous for 142 years, where 75% of the Chechen population was eradicated and most of the towns were completely erased. This was the first liquidation.

In February 1944, Chechens were exiled to the cold Siberia and desert of Kazakhstan. Chechens were accused in cooperating with Germany. Again, more than 50% of the Chechens were liquidated in the exile. Chechnya was erased from the maps and no official mention to it was until 1957. This was the second liquidation.

Although Germany was targeting the oil fields of Grozny in Chechnya and Baku in Azerbaijan, but it never made it to these fields. Daniel Yergin in his book "The Prize" 1992, mentioned: " In mid August [1942], Germany mountain troops planted the swastika at the summit of Mount Elbrus, the highest point in the Caucasus and in Europe.... By November 1942 the last German effort to break through the mountain passes toward Grozny and Baku had definitively been repulsed."

The eight nations exiled were Chechens, Ingush, Karachai, Balkar, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatar, Volga Germans, Meskhetians. They were ordered to board the trains in order to be used as a hard labor in building the Siberian railroad. The ill and the elderly Chechens were separated from their families, where they were pushed out of the trains and were left to face the death alone, along the rail road.

In Siberia, each Chechen family was divided into many concentration camps, which were fenced and separated by miles from each other. These families were not allowed to communicate during the 13 years of the exile. In 1957, Khrushchev decided to return five nations, among them the Chechens to their homeland. Volga Germans and Crimean Tatars are still in the exile. Meanwhile, Meskhetians were totally eradicated, their homeland was annexed to Georgia in the Caucasus, and was erased from the official maps.

This exile and the punishment were worse than what Hitler did! The world media never gave the attention to Stalin's liquidation of nations, relative to the Holocaust of Hitler which is always under spot light!

An important note here, one of the main reasons that Hitler was defeated is the lack of oil which left the German machinery and army to be frozen in Russia. If Hitler actually reached Grozny and Baku, he would never be defeated!

The third liquidation of the Chechens by Russians was in the War (1994-1996). Before the War, the Chechen population was 1.2 million, but after the War the population dropped to 250,000. Hundred thousand Chechens were killed and the rest were dislocated.

Today's invasion by Russia to Chechnya is a continuous liquidation and total destruction, targeting at first the civilians. Thousands of Chechen women, children, and elderly were forced to stay on their feet at closed borders for several days till they were collapsed. Only the ones who pay to the Russians were allowed to pass the borders to Ingushita. The rest were forced to return to their homes under the bombing, where thousands of them were killed. The cold weather in the refugee tents is killing the children, elderly and the sick. The lack of antibiotics and medicine cause the death of the wounded. Surgeries are made without anastasia!

The list of the reasons that Russia accuses for the start of this War:

1. Russians accuse the Chechens for planting explosions in Moscow apartments. Infact every Chechen denied these accusations.
   

   	During history, Chechens fought the Russians man to man
   	During the previous War 1994-1996, Chechens did not plant explosions. So, why should they at the time of the peace?
   	The explosions were strong enough to bring a 12 level apartment in Moscow into dust. Such explosions are not handled by few terrorists, but are officially made by Russia.
   	Russians never proved that Chechens made the explosions.
   	-and most important, Chechens would are not honored to kill women and Children. Not because they fear Russia, not because they can not do it, but because they fear God.
   	Moscow news sources reprinted in the Economist in October 1999, revealed that undercover Russian security agents had been caught red-handed planting explosives in an apartment building. The explosions provided Russians a pre-text to invade Chechnya.
   	"On November 26, 1939, Russian troops near the Finnish border were bombarded by artillery fire, and 13 soldiers were killed or wounded. The incident, known as The Shootings of Mainila, or Mainilian laukaukset, gave Russians an excuse to attack Finland just a few days later, thus starting the Winter War. Fifty years later, in 1989, the Soviet Union confessed that those shots had been fired by its own cannons." Quoted from the Newsweek -international issue- Oct 25, 1999.

2. The presence of few Islamists in Chechnya:
   

   	First, Islam is the center of the Chechen culture, as Christianity is of the European and Judaism is of the Israeli. If the argument is the presence of the Islamic extremists in Chechnya, then every country in this world has extremists. Was not Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma, a Christian extremist? Was not Eygal Amir, who assassinated the Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, a Jewish extremist? Also Russia has Orthodox extremists, mafias, and criminals! Should these countries be flattened like Chechnya?!
   	Second, every nation was under the Communism in the former Soviet Union was prevented from practicing its religion. Nations were hungry to their religions after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
   	Third, the Chechens need Islam more than ever today in Chechnya to overcome the social problems that Communism left, such as the habit of drinking. Islam handled such habits very well.

3. The Russians fear the establishment of united Islamic State in North Caucasus. Infact, there was a North Caucasus Federation established in May 11, 1918 by seven nations, Chechen-Ingush, Daghestan, Karachai, Balkar, Cerkessians, Ossetines (mostly Orthodox Christians) and Kabardino. Representatives of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the Ottoman Empire were in the meeting of the Union. The Federation was recognized by Turkey, Germany, Bulgaria and Communist Russia (by Lenin himself). The North Caucasus Federation was just like the European Union today, where these small countries found mutual economic interest with each other. What is wrong with that???
   
   The British General Thompson, who was occupying with his army the city of Baku in 1918, recognized it on a conditional basis to be confirmed in Paris Conference for WWI in next December. This delay gave the Russians enough time to invade the North Caucasus Federation. The British General called the Chechens at that time "Muslim bandits" and assisted the Russians in ammunition during their invasion. Members of the NCF government were hanged or got asylum, such as President Chermoy and the foreign minister Haydar Bamat who both were Chechens. Chermoy had a law degree from St. Petersburg University, meanwhile Bamat was mastering nine languages.
   
   After 5 months, Russians fought the British in Baku and defeated General Thompson. Russians captured the oil fields of Baku causing the loss of hundreds of million dollars of oil facilities invested in Royal-Dutch Shell oil by Britain.
   
   Today, history is repeating itself. Behind the scenes, The West is tapping on the back of Boris Yeltsin and his prime minister Putin in order to get rid of what they so call the "Chechen terrorists", forgetting that Russia's final stop of aggression will not be on Chechnya only, but it will continue dominating the oil fields of Baku, the entire Caucasus, and the rest of the satellite countries. There is a cold silence by the Western leaders against the Russian aggression on Chechnya. Infact, the foreign minister of Russia Igor Ivanov announced a Russian diplomatic triumph in Istanbul (17-19 Nov 1999) in which the Russians lobbied and managed to eliminate a principle paragraph of the OSCE charter that would have spelled out the human rights violations are no longer a country's sovereign right.
   
   Life was and still is worth zero for Russia!
   
   On Nov 11, 1999, China veto against the UN international humanitarian aid to Chechnya, claiming that Chechnya is an internal affair of Russia. In fact, China is protecting its iron fist policy on Tibet, East Turkistan with 50 million Muslims- , Hong Kong, and its claims on Taiwan.
   
4. Russia claims that the main reason behind this War is the invasion of the Chechen fighters to neighboring Daghestan and the call of the holy Islamic war JIHAD. Infact, Russia bombed two Daghestani villages on August 7th, which are on the borders of Chechnya and Azerbaijan, killing the civilians. Chechens lead by Shamil Basaev felt the obligation towards defending the Daghestanis. Chechen and Daghestani tribes have historic mutual relations in defending each other against Russia, especially that both were led by Imam Shamil of Daghestan for 25 years till the year 1864.
   
   JIHAD is not an expansion and aggression holy war against the world, as the world media portraying. What NATO is doing is exactly the "Jihad" in Islam. When one member faces an aggression, the rest of the members should defend him. The world media calls NATO an alliance, meanwhile calls the same Islamic notion of Jihad a terrorism! Why this double meaning!
   
5. Chechens were accused of kidnapping foreign reporters and aid workers for exchange of millions of dollars.
   
   In fact, Chechens honor their guests traditionally. Many of these reporters and workers were thankful for the Chechens during the last War, which was showed in their writings and published books.
   
   But, the borders of Chechnya were open since the War and the Russian KGB had a strong presence there. The KGB agents acted as Chechens and video taped their actions of kidnappings in order to show the world these actions by the name of the Chechens. The world media and politicians are believing Russian claims de facto without questioning the Russians to give a prove!
   
   Its the Chechen interest to keep these foreign reporters in Chechnya to show the world the Russian massacres to the Chechen people. By these artificial kidnappings, Russians succeeded in preventing the reporters from reaching the massacres scenes in the same way that Serbia did in Kosovo.
   
6. Russia claims that its hammering Chechnya in the same way that NATO bombard Serbia. But NATO bombing did not erase Serbian towns and flatten them like the Russians did in Chechnya.
   
   The Russian public is visibly joyful, uplifted by its military's performance which is portrayed by the government or the flag-waving Russian media. The Russian steely leaders had the chance to blow in the empty pride of the Russians. " We will show the West that we are still a superpower" say the Russian commercials regarding the Chechen War, which is a revenge of the NATO performance in Kosovo in ousting Russia and its Orthodox Christian allies.
   
   The Russian moms are saying: "Kill the Chechens all, even their babies". I wonder if these moms would say that when their sons' corpses start to arrive Russia. Infact, the Russian generals are hiding their soldiers corpses until the War finishes, in order to prevent any opposition of the Russian public opinion. Then, the Russian moms will share the grief with the Chechen moms for the rest of their lives. The loss of a child.
   
7. Russia claims that Chechnya is a part of Russia. In fact, on November 1990, the representatives of each town and city in Chechnya met to declare their independence from the Soviet Union, which was collapsed in 1989 upon the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved in December 31, 1991. By the virtue of Article 72 of the Soviet Constitution, nations who were seeking the independence were given that right.
   
   Meanwhile, Russian Federation was established on March 31, 1992, after a year and a half of the Chechen independence. So legally, Chechnya is not a part of Russia. It was separated from the Soviet Union and not from Russia which the later was not yet born!
   

WHAT ARE THE ACTUAL REASONS BEHIND THE CHECHEN WAR (1999-...)?
WHY CHECHNYA WAS HAMMERED SO BRUTALLY BY RUSSIA?

1. Russia today is in a failure economic condition. When China attracted $40 billion of foreign investment in the year 1998, Russia attracted only $2 billion due to Russian brutality and bloody nature. Russia is in a desperate economic need for the Caucasus oil.
   
   In an independent Azerbaijan, British Petroleum and Amoco oil companies built huge oil facilities in Baku, preparing this oil for the coming century. The main pipeline of the oil during the Soviet era was coming from Baku to the Black Sea, passing through Grozny. This route was encouraged by the Russians, but without passing through Grozny. U.S. and Britain started to search for a new pipeline route, away from the Russian control and away from the War in Chechnya. So, the new route was suggested to pass from Baku, through Georgia, to Turkey. In order to sign an agreement with Turkey, the U.S. energy secretary Richardson was in Istanbul during the first earthquake in Turkey in late July of this year. This triggered the anger of Russia. The presence of independent Chechnya forms a natural barrier against Russian control of the oil fields and the pipeline. Russia would not stop its aggression at the point of crushing Chechnya's resistance, but it intends to continue to dominate Georgia by assassinating its president Edward Shevardnadze. Russia already bombed a Georgian village on the borders of Chechnya few days ago, signaling its intentions. It also plotted a car bomb for Shevardnadze in earlier years.
   
2. Russia signed a peace agreement with Chechnya in 1996 for recognizing Chechnya as independent state in five years (in the year 2001) Today, Russia is using the terrorist attacks on Moscow as propaganda against Chechnya's independence to prevent the world from recognizing Chechnya.
   
3. Russian officials failed to bring economic prosperity to Russia upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the rise of the nationalism and Communism tides against what we so call the "reformers", Russia started to search for a "war hero" to be elected in the next presidential campaign next year. Russians assign Vladimir Putin the new Prime Minister last August and assigned to him the task of invading Chechnya.
   
4. A global over reaction to the matter of the Islamic terrorism threat. There is a huge unfair campaign around the world against Islam. This campaign is waged by the entertainment and film industry, politicians, college books and professors, publishers, and the media. Any terrorist act around the world accuses the Muslims as the first suspects. They are harassed every where including the airports.
   
   On one hand it's the fault of the Muslims themselves that they do not bring these accusations into justice and law. On the other hand they do not clear to the world the message of Islam. Thus, nations like the Chechens are paying the heavy price, because the world's image about Muslims is terrorism and crimes, so the world does not sympathize. Islam is the message of mercy and peace for the world, and not the terrorism.
   
5. Israel who is on the edge of a twisting peace in the Middle East is intending to get rid of any strong Muslim opposition to annexing East Jerusalem and the Muslim shrines to Israel. Chechens along other Muslims around the world would reject this annexation. Based on that, Barak; the prime minister of Israel, visited Moscow in August 2nd and discussed openly with Boris Yeltsin of Russia the issues of Iran, Iraq, Chechnya...and any other spot might Russia influence. Followed that, Russian officials who were bribed by Israel, fired the Irani students from Russian colleges, forced the Russian professors to leave the Irani colleges, Moscow started to use the language of threat against Chechnya, the first bombing of the Daghestani two villages on the borders of Chechnya was on August 7th, and the first explosion of an apartment building was on August 31st.
   
   In late July 1999, the Israeli foreign minister met with the Russian ambassador and told him publicly that Chechnya is not only a dangerous state for Russia but also its dangerous for the existence of Israel because it has Islamists. Chechnya should be eliminated! (unquote) Israel signed an agreement to update the Russian military and defense for this reason.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. During Maskhdov's visit to Washington on November 1997, many countries' delegations asked to contact him. In the meetings, he presented the economic needs of Chechnya, and precisely the need for loans to build the infrastructure, which was devastated by the War. But these countries expressed diplomatic rejections because of their relations with Russia I was the personal translator for Maskhadov in one of his meetings, I felt the heat of the lobbing against Chechnya! It was unfair!
   
   The lobby was active particularly inside the Muslim and Arab delegations, unfortunately!
   
   If these countries participated in building the economy of Chechnya, and pressing on Russia to stop the aggression instead of rewarding the aggressor, then Russia would definitely hold it back, and there might be no War today!
   
   The countries around the world should review their policies toward Chechnya and offer economic development in the coming future.
   
2. The satellite countries have to unite in responding to Russia. The aggression of Russia on one should be considered on all.
   
   Chechnya is located on the borders of two giants, Islam and Christianity. Chechnya was and will be the cooperation bridge between these two giants, (especially with East Europe).
   

Russian historic geostrategic objectives, from Peter the Great to Stalin and till today, were always:*

* Source: "Back in the USSR: Russia's intervention in the internal affairs of the former Soviet Republics and the implications for United States policy toward Russia." Harvard University, January 1994.